Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri
Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary
Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net
Recent Posts
- Try
- Becoming Brenda Starr
- Off Beat
- Scattered
- That’s It
- So I’ve Finally Signed With An Agent. Now What?
- The Spoon
- Sciatica
- Sweetheart
- A Woman’s Train of Thought Has No Caboose
- However much we own, we are all still living on borrowed time
- After all, when restaurants shrink portions, they don’t shrink prices.
- As with everything in life, balance is key.
- Slow down, you move too fast…
- Yeah, I know. I have issues.
Syndicate
E me at katy @ ngenius.com
As Always, Less Is More
It was brought to my attention by a number of thoughtful readers that they weren’t able to access fallible for several days. Sure enough, I couldn’t access it, either! I think the problem is fixed now. Leave me a comment if you missed me!! :)
Ever since last weeks’ Oprah episodes on Thursday and Friday, I have been on a decluttering rampage. Doug is joining me in my renewed mission to make sense of, manage the quantity of, and be good stewards over our possessions.
On Sunday, we took two loads (in our small station wagon) of trash down to the street. Plus, I hauled one enormous load (barely room for my purse in the car!) to Goodwill. Here’s a tidbit I found fascinating: I got to Goodwill, and the person receiving donations came out to the car to help me.
“Are all these things being unloaded HERE?” she asked.
I figured one look in my car would tell her the answer. It was obvious I hadn’t been shopping. No bags from Kohl’s or WalMart or Target were mixed in among the giveaways.
“Um…yes?” I said.
“Oh, dear,” she said. “I’m not sure we’ve got room.”
I stepped into the warehouse and was shocked. In all the years I’ve been donating to this store, I have NEVER seen the warehouse so excruciatingly full. It looked like the lady’s house which was featured on Oprah! Only narrow paths between mounds of boxes and bags, stacked so high I felt frightened for my very extremely short self.
How we managed to add my carload to that warehouse full, I have no idea. We were throwing the lighter weight items onto the top of the heap and hoisting the heavier ones as high as we could, wedging them into whatever crevice happened to make itself available.
It occurred to me on the way home that half the people in the country saw Oprah’s show about drowning in clutter, and got the message—at least to the point that they made one run to Goodwill. What tipped me off was that the employee said ALL the donations in that enormous warehouse had come in THAT DAY. Unbelievable.
I will get back to posting after the holiday. Until then, may you have much—or even less—to be thankful for! I know I do.
- YES, you were missed!! I wondered what was going on. I was just about to email you when I checked one more time and there you were! Welcome back! And Happy Thanksgiving, Katy and Doug!
Posted by Deb Raney on 11/21/07 at 05:44 PM
- So good to have you back, Katy! I was worried and suffering from fallible withdrawal symptoms!
Posted by Sunflower on 11/21/07 at 09:35 PM
- Happy Thanksgiving to you and Ken and the kiddos, Deb!!! Hope you have a lovely day in beautiful Kansas.
Sunflower--Thanks for the encouragement you sent by email to "please come back"! I'll tell you what, it gave me a bit of a thrill! Now, even though you're Malaysian, may I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving??Posted by Katy on 11/22/07 at 07:39 AM - I followed the link and was not prepared for what I saw. My jaw was on the floor as I viewed the videos on Oprah. I can not fathom living that way – I am so anti-clutter, just watching that trek through the house brought my claustrophobic feelings to the surface. I really felt for the family and hope that this intervention will change their habits so that they will never find themselves in that place again. I can only imagine how overwhelming it was to come home to that prison of needless stuff every day. Mercy.
However, after it was done, I started pulling things I don't use off shelves, putting clothes into bags that I don't wear, and going into the storage room to see if there was anything else I could get rid of to Goodwill. Reactionary perhaps, but like you and many others, I am on a constant quest to live life with quality, not quantity.Posted by joshua on 11/23/07 at 07:13 AM - Joshua--I'm glad you checked out the episodes. I haven't recovered from watching them yet!! I've even read through the discussion on Oprah's message boards--some of the most tragic stories I've ever read.
I told my kids that their Dad and I were on another rampage, tearing through the house with a decluttering vengeance. My darling daughter-in-law said the same thing she has said before on this subject: "THANK you!" If we weren't doing it to improve the quality of our own lives, we would do it for our children. Now, I'm off to handle today's "assignment,"--one of my three desks. It's what I'm doing INSTEAD of Black Friday shopping. Dear Lord, deliver us!Posted by Katy on 11/23/07 at 08:00 AM - Maybe you could have found a place to donate that didn't already have so much stuff. I often take our "extras" to the shelter for abused women/children, and they are always in need. It seems like some places always get the stuff, and others are in desperate need. Just an idea...
Posted by Bridget on 12/01/07 at 09:41 AM
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